OpenVault Reports Accelerated Broadband Usage
Notes subtle, but historic shift in second quarter.
WASHINGTON, August 20, 2025 –Americans are using the internet more than ever, according to a recent OpenVault Broadband Insights report.
The report released Tuesday by OpenVault, led by CEO and Founder Mark Trudeau, revealed a shift in broadband consumption trends. Where usage typically declines in the second quarter, the report showed continued quarterly growth instead.
OpenVault’s data showed that average per-subscriber usage rose to 664.2 gigabytes (GB) in Q2 2025 – an increase from 663.2 GB in Q1. While the increase was slight, it broke with the usual seasonal pattern, indicating long-term acceleration.
Year-over-year usage growth was even more striking, with a 13.4 percent increase over Q2 2024’s 585.8 GB – the strongest second-quarter growth rate since 2021.
Downstream traffic rose 13 percent year-over-year to 615.3 GB, while upstream usage surged by 17.9 percent, the fastest Q2 growth on record aside from the pandemic-driven spike in 2020.
Power users are also driving demand: 5 percent of subscribers now consume over 2 TB of data monthly, up from 3.7 percent at the end of 2024.
Subscribers on 1 Gbps+ plans averaged 955.0 GB of usage, a 14.4 percent increase year-over-year.
Meanwhile, lower-tier speed plans continue to fade in relevance, with sub-50 Mbps users averaging just 117.4 GB – a 55 percent drop from a year ago.
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